Together in Electric Dreams

November 4, 2021 4:43 AM

As the Christmas season begins with the traditional reveal of the annual John Lewis advert (history and background), so another generation hears a version of the 1984 song Together in Electric Dreams (extended version). This year's cover is sung by Lola Young (YouTube). The original featured in Electric Dreams (trailer), a love triangle film dedicated to the memory of UNIVAC I, and was a collaboration between composer Giorgio Moroder and singer Phil Oakey from the 80s synthpop band Human League (live The Things That Dreams Are Made Of and 2012 remaster). Together in Electric Dreams is regularly sung on tours by the group. A 2020 cover by The Leaf People.

Happy Christmas, MetaFilter.

posted by Wordshore (20 comments total)

I, too, initially find blondes like the one in the advert quite scary. Happy Christmas, Wordshore.
posted by Bella Donna at 5:00 AM on November 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

Or this link for the extended version of Together in Electric Dreams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1DwTcSlgqs
posted by datawrangler at 5:08 AM on November 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

'Merry Christmas!' the man threatened.
posted by chavenet at 5:14 AM on November 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

Oh, the John Lewis advert for this year is delightful!

And now I have context for the angry British racists frothing at the mouth online about it. What a weird thing to get hung up on.
posted by Kitteh at 5:19 AM on November 4, 2021 [6 favorites]

At the same time, John Lewis kind of punted with "Let Life Happen" just last week...
posted by chavenet at 5:41 AM on November 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

In September 2020, I asked myself what kind of John Lewis ad would be appropriate for that hellish year. Here's my script.

(Fair warning: it's quite dark.)
posted by Paul Slade at 6:02 AM on November 4, 2021 [3 favorites]

I was just thinking about Electric Dreams the other day and wondering if it still holds up. I remember quite enjoying it at the time.
posted by hippybear at 6:16 AM on November 4, 2021 [4 favorites]

I have the soundtrack of the film on vinyl, found it a few months ago after many years forgotten. It has some great songs on it, particularly two great numbers by Jeff Lynne. So I rewatched the film and still liked it. The duet scene brought happy tears of remembrance to my eyes.
posted by illongruci at 6:57 AM on November 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

I was just thinking about Electric Dreams the other day and wondering if it still holds up.

As well as (or better than) any other nerd romance from the early 80s holds up. I really wish there was a US Blu-Ray or 4k/Dolby Atmos release - Electric Dreams is one of my favorite movies.
posted by hanov3r at 7:18 AM on November 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

Electric Dreams is why our roomba is named Moles.

And why we had a cat named Edgar.
posted by Lord_Pall at 8:03 AM on November 4, 2021 [4 favorites]

When I rewatched it a few years ago I realized the film I remembered was kind of a mash up of Electric Dreams and Xanadu and probably a few other movie posters, and I would never be able to enjoy it as much as I thought I had.
posted by pulposus at 8:58 AM on November 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

My wife just came into the room wearing her Electric Dreams t-shirt.
posted by octothorpe at 9:22 AM on November 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

Well someone has been watching Stranger Things.
posted by StephenF at 10:14 AM on November 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

Electric Dreams is available on archive.org, and was recently reviewed by Nathan Rabin.
posted by JDC8 at 12:30 PM on November 4, 2021 [3 favorites]

The Guardian were underwhelmed by the ad.
posted by davidwitteveen at 1:57 PM on November 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

Electric Dreams was on heavy rotation on HBO back in the mid 80s. I remember watching it as a kid. It's really quite a strange movie.
posted by zardoz at 2:05 PM on November 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

The Guardian were underwhelmed by the ad.

That article ("...the John Lewis Christmas ad is a Coronavirus origin story") was Stuart Heritage being Stuart Heritage. Having said that, one of the comments reads:

Wouldn't it have been great if she had peeled off her flesh like Scarlett Johansson in Under The Skin revealing an inky black body as a symbolic avatar for our hopes and dreams of a happy Christmas/end of days?
posted by Wordshore at 2:07 PM on November 4, 2021 [4 favorites]

and was recently reviewed by Nathan Rabin.

That's an interesting review, and now that I know where to find it I look forward to a rewatch maybe this weekend.

Thanks for linking that because it led me to what might be the most important coloring book of all time, and I'm going to order it.
posted by hippybear at 7:58 PM on November 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

John Lewis' newest mawkish Christmas ad should go away for a few weeks. It's only just been Halloween.

"The War on Christmas cannot end until Christmas stops its illegal occupation of November"
posted by reynir at 5:45 AM on November 5, 2021 [4 favorites]

I loved this movie as a kid, because I loved computers (I was an apple II+ kid). And come to think of it, the song was a big part of the film.
posted by umbú at 8:13 AM on November 6, 2021 [2 favorites]